183 Days to go...

¡hola familia! i can´t believe that this week i will have 18 months as a missionary!! wow! it goes too fast. things here in cinco saltos are going awesome. we are going to have a baptism for sure this saturday and i will have pictures next week. noemí is the mother of pablo, our ward mission leader and first councilor in the ward. both of them are very excited and i´m pretty sure that pablo is going to baptize her. noemí told us that she had a dream that answered her prayers. she wouldn´t tell us details because they are very personal to her and they were exactly what she needed to know for sure of what she is doing. we are very excited for her! i don´t know if i mentioned jorge yet, but he is also progressing a lot. he is lacking a few things for his divorce, and then he is going to marry marta, a woman that just moved into cinco saltos from neuquen and she wants to do the things right, so she told jorge that they need to get married if they are going to live together. they are an older couple, probably around 60 years old. while we taught jorge about the plan of salvation, it really touched him and he felt strongly that it is all true and is doing all that he can to prepare himself for baptism. we found another woman this week named ema that talked to the missionaries a long time ago and now wants to be baptized. she wanted to be baptized this saturday but wasn´t able to go to church yesterday, so we are going to have another week to help her get ready. melani is doing great. really excited to go to church every week. we are teaching her mom, herminia. she isn´t progressing as much but she really supports melani and wants to go to church with her. she didn´t accompany melani yesterday because sunday is her only free day from work and she decided to go visit her brother in neuquen that she hasn´t seen or talked to in over three years. those are the people that are progressing the most but we are seeing other miracles here in cinco saltos and finding many people that want to learn more. the ward is getting a lot better, and the members are even starting to leave their houses to finally do their visits with the inactives! the visits are long overdue but it´s sure helping. we didn´t reach 50 members in church yet but we are getting closer. in church, i was asked to give a talk about missionary work and how we can invite our friends and families to learn more about the gospel. creo que me salió bien. :) i´m so happy to see the results that we are having. the ward won´t change overnight but it is nice to see the progress already. fall is starting in cinco saltos and it is getting a little cooler. un poco fresco afuera, but i love this weather. it is very beautiful here, and i love when the leaves change and begin to fall. hey! and i loved the pictures you sent me! it was awesome seeing everyone together. i was going to write earlier but the ciber where we usually go was closed and we decided to do other things and wait for the siesta to end to be able to write in a different ciber. sorry i didn´t write sooner. and the bolsa of letters that we get every week hasn´t come yet, but i´m hoping it comes later tonight or tomorrow. it might not even show up this week because we have a zone conference this wednesday in neuquen but i hope that the office sent it... we spent the day pretty well though and we had an amazing lunch. i took a picture of it to be able to show off the belleza and majesty but i will have to send it next week with our pictures of noemí for her baptism. i was reading the book of mormon in alma and i really enjoyed 36:24-25 24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. 25 Yea, and now behold, O my son, the Lord doth give me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my labors; i am happy to be able to share the gospel in cinco saltos and i have no shame in doing it. my companion, elder guillen, and i are working very well together and we are having a lot of success. we are very excited with our work and i echo alma´s words when i say that we have great joy in the fruit of our labors. thank you for all of your support. this is the best time of my life. i love you guys and i´m looking forward to hearing from you again next week! con mucho amor y ánimo, elder summers

190 days to go....

¡hola familia!
i wish i could have been there with you guys in the temple! sounds
awesome and i´m really jealous that i couldn´t be there. it has been
a long time since i have been able to go... i heard that the temple in
buenos aires will be ready in august or september and i think that i
might be able to go. that would be incredible! our lesson in church
this sunday was about doing more temple work, and it is very hard for
the people here because the temple is so far away, but we have the
priviledge of having many that are so close that there are no excuses
to go more often.
i have been thinking lately about how lucky i am to have such an
awesome family that has strong testimonies of the savior. i realized
a few days ago that my last 4 companions were all converts to the
church and they were all about 17 years old when they were baptized.
none of them really received support from their families and it makes
me really appreciate all the time that you spend just to send a quick
note to let me know that you are thinking of me every week. i am very
grateful and i love all of you.
there have been a lot of birthdays in the family this month! i have
them marked on my calendar and i can´t believe that time is going by
so fast. i wanted to give a shout out to ashley and mollie and wish
them a happy birthday this week! i hope you guys have awesome days
and i will be thinking of you. melani´s son, mario, turned 3 this
week too, and i shared my cadbury mini eggs to celebrate.
a few days ago, the missionary that i trained, elder ruano, has
reached his year mark on the mission. that makes me feel really
old... pero bueno, está bien. life is going well here with elder
guillen. he is really funny and we get along really well. he is
definitely one of my best companions and he really wants to work hard.
he is not shy at all like other comps i have had and that makes
things a lot more enjoyable talking to people. he reminds me of
somebody but i can´t think of who it is. maybe i will remember later.
we started teaching the mom of the first counsilor in our ward, pablo.
his mom, noemí, went to general conference, stake conference with
elder aidukaitis, and she has been to church many times, and now she
finally wants to take the lessons. we put the fecha for the 28th and
she is very excited and is receiving a lot of support from the members
in the ward. it is awesome. this week we had 46 people in sacrament
meeting. ¡vamos arriba! (that´s what my comp says all the time). it
means ´´we´re goin´ up!´´
one the 28th, we are looking at having many baptisms in my district
and i´m pretty excited about how things are going. i didn´t go on
divisions this week but we planned on doing it this friday with the
elders in centenario. should go great. i´m learning that if we want
something bad enough, we can accomplish anything. one question- what
are the requirements to work at the mtc?
i hope you guys have an awesome week and i will be sending pictures next week.
con mucho amor y ánimo,
elder summers

197 days to go....

¡hola familia!
> elder guillen, my new companion, is awesome. i really enjoy being
> with him and i love how responsible he is. he has a lot of fun
> working too and that makes a huge difference. my last companion would
> get mad at the members, but elder guillen is very positive and he
> brings a new spirit to cinco saltos. i´m excited to be working with
> him here.
> i´m happy kingston enjoyed his birthday on saturday! i can´t see the
> videos because this computer doesn´t have a program to watch... so all
> of the videos you sent don´t work. i saw the pictures though. on
> saturday, we were able to baptize melani! it was the first time that
> i have baptized anyone and it was a very special experience for me.
> melani was so happy and excited and it was a privilege for me to be a
> part of the ordinance. we took some good pictures and i am going to
> print some to give to her so she can always remember that day. she
> almost didn´t make it because she couldn´t get out of work, but we
> made it through and she was able to make it on time. on sunday, i was
> asked to confirm sofia a member of the church, the girl that baptized
> before the conference, and the first councilor, pablo, confirmed
> melani. that was the first time that i have confirmed somebody as
> well. an awesome weekend.
> my district has changed a lot this week. the hermanas in my district are doing awesome. hermana velez is working very well with hermana rosas, from buenos aires, and she came from neuquen and she was able to achieve the standard in her
> other area. i know we can learn a lot from her these next few weeks.
> i´m not worried about them too much, but on friday, i talked with my
> district and we set the goal of having 9 baptisms this month as a
> district. we already have one! the elders don´t have any fechas for
> baptism, but the hermanas have 4 really good ones. this week, it
> doesn´t look like we will have a baptism because brenda and daniel
> didn´t go to church, but franco and dolores are preparing for the 21
> and noemi is preparing for the 28. my companion, elder guillen is
> really excited to work and we get a lot done together. we will see a
> lot more miracles this month.
> presidente peterson wants us to meet with the ward mission leader and
> make goals for the trimestre, and we already have done that. we have
> the goal of baptizing 15 people in the next 3 months here in cinco
> saltos, and reactivating 8 families. we have the list of people that
> we are going to focus on and we are working with the members to help
> them come back. elder guillen and i are going to focus more on
> finding the less active members with the priesthood and help them come
> back to church. we really need them... and it just happens to be that
> they now have kids that need to be baptized, and they have lots of
> friends that want to hear about the gospel :). this week, we had 38
> people in church, 3 of them were our investigators. franco, herminia,
> and noemi. you have no idea how happy i am for them and we are so
> excited about what we are doing!
> i got my easter package today!! i really enjoyed it and my companion
> is excited to try some of my favorite easter candies. thank you for
> sending them!
> it´s starting to get a little colder now. the leaves are falling and
> i´m starting to use my long sleeved shirts again. i´m thinking that i
> probably won´t be using my short sleeved shirts again for a while...
> but that´s ok because i prefer working in the cold :).
> my scripture for this week is josué 1:9- mira que te mando que te
> esfuerces y seas valiente; no temes ni desmayes, porque Jehová tu Dios
> estará contigo dondequiera que vayas. that´s by memory. it´s a great
> scripture that helped me this week. i´m studying the book of joshua
> right now and i don´t know how many times God tells joshua to
> esforzarse and be valient. i don´t know what it says in english but
> this scripture did a lot for me this week.
> i know that i am where i need to be and i´m doing what i need to do.
> it is an honor for me to be a part of this work and i don´t want it to
> end. i love my Savior and i´m so happy to be here.
> i´m looking forward to another great week in cinco saltos and i´m
> hoping you guys enjoy this next week as well. i want pictures!
> remember that videos don´t work for me. pictures do.
> i love you guys!
> con mucho amor y ánimo,
> elder summers

204 Days to go....

> ¿hola familia?
> wasn{t conference awesome? i really enjoyed it. it was really fun
> watching it with a bunch american missionaries in english in neuquen.
> a lot of the talks given were exactly what i needed to hear for
> myself, the people i am teaching, and for the members of the church in
> cinco saltos. i was amazed how (almost) all of my questions were
> answered and i have no doubt i can find the rest of my answers in the
> priesthood session. i was not able to watch it but right now i am in
> the process of downloading it on my mp3 to listen to tomorrow with my
> new companion!
> yes, my new companion. i can´t believe it either but i´m excited for
> the new change. elder zarceño is leaving to esquel tonight at
> midnight and elder guillen is coming in tomorrow from comodoro in the
> morning. i heard that he is awesome, he was converted about 2 years
> ago to the church, he has about 6 months on the mission, that i will
> be his 3rd comp and cinco saltos will be his 2nd area. i heard that
> he is from uruguay, and that means that i can continue practicing and
> improving my ´´español´´ :). he will be my 7th companion and i´m
> looking forward to start working with him. this week, hna rivera and
> elder hernandez are heading for other areas. hna rivera is going to
> the south, caleta olivia, and e hernandez is heading for bariloche
> with elder zarceño. we are getting two more gringo missionaries in my
> district. i heard that hna velez is really cool, and elder evans is
> really excited too. i´m looking forward to meeting them this week.
> this week was pretty crazy because my companion had to go to bariloche
> on tuesday night and didn´t come back until wednesday night, so i
> spent the day with my zone leaders, elder escobar and elder zebley!!
> they are awesome, and it was cool spending the day with them. another
> plus, elder zarceño brought home some amazing chocolate from
> bariloche, and it is incredible. i still haven´t finished it because
> i need to savor all of it.
> i met a man in the bus terminal that is from spain and is 97 years
> old. this man was incredible. he speaks french, italian, english,
> portuguese, and a bunch of tribal languanges and dialects. he is a
> member of the church and was involved in the translation of the book
> of mormon in guarani, a language spoken in paraguay, in quechua, and
> in other translation projects. the guy, for his age was very active,
> didn´t use glasses to read and had amazing health. he says that the
> word of wisdom helped him a lot and he never really ate meat in his
> life. he told me many things that were very interesting and made me
> change the way i think about a lot of things. he said that the asians
> are nephites... the second coming is very close. we talked a lot
> about temples and how recently, some people discovered some gold
> plates in some pyramids here in south america. i think they were
> found in peru, and they are really big. he talked about missionary
> work and how it is almost in every country of the world. everything
> is being fulfilled! it was an awesome experience to be able to talk
> with him. elder zarceño missed out on the conversation, but i was
> with elder escobar and elder zebley. i don´t remember the man´s last
> name, but i´m sure that one of my zone leaders remembers.
> our dueña (i forgot how to say it, but it is the woman that we pay
> rent to) is having our apartment painted, so we had to stay and watch
> the guy a little bit because she was sick and couldn´t do it. we left
> and when she came back, she cleaned our kitchen for us. added bonus
> for my new companion :) jajaja now i think we should do something for
> her to say thanks.
> one question- i really like the song ´´his hands´´, and i was
> wondering if somebody could search for the piano music and send it to
> me? i´m thinking that you could download it free from the internet,
> i just want a good copy that is complete and sounds great.
> what a privilege to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of
> Latter-day Saints! As i listened to the talks in the conference and
> felt the love of President Monson, i am excited to be a part of the
> Kingdom of God. i felt the love of the Father and the Son. there was
> so much wise council from the teachings of all who spoke at the
> conference. now even more, i know that the church is true and that
> Christ is the Savior and Redeemer. i love the Book of Mormon and this
> work.
> i loved conference and i learned a ton of things. at the end, we took
> some pictures with the other missionaries there, and i officially said
> goodbye to my trainer. he is awesome and he finished very faithful.
> he is a great example for me and i hope to be an example for other
> missionaries as he is.
> this week i loved the scripture found in d&c 15:6. that is what is of
> greatest worth for me, to share the gospel and invite all to
> repentance. i know that my Heavenly Father wants me to progress a lot
> on my mission, and i can do it through my service and love for others.
> isn´t it interesting how that works?
> the bus to barrio peron did not break down, but melani just slept in.
> she is excited for her baptism this saturday, and we are doing all we
> can to help her reach it this weekend. too bad e´ zarceño won´t be
> here for it... i honestly think that april will be the best month of
> my mission so far. we are planning on having baptisms every week this
> month. we need to work really hard this month to be able to reach
> that goal. elder escobar showed me his agenda and he almost baptized
> every week of his last transfer. yesterday he baptized 2 people
> before heading home. he taught me some cool things for my planning
> that i will start using and i will make my goals this month. i know
> that we have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and i´m excited to
> help the people of cinco saltos find it this month! what we have is
> the solution for everybody, no matter what is happening in their
> lives, the gospel will help and bless their lives forever. isn´t it
> awesome to be a part of missionary work?
> i love being here, and i´m grateful for all of your support! i want
> pictures next week of kingston´s birthday! time goes by so fast. i
> liked dad´s toilet paper analogy because it´s true. jajaja.
> con mucho amor y ánimo,
> elder summers